Women vs. Men in Sports

Why don't women perform as well at sports as men do? Is it because women are not as strong as men are? Although it is commonly believed that women are not as skilled at sports as men are due to their lack of muscle strength, a recent study suggests that there may be other factors involved. The study points out those myths about the female body were quite common until fairly lately. In fact, it is only within the last 300 years that anatomists have begun to stress the differences between the male and female body. Until this time, the female body was simply viewed as a weaker, less efficient, form of the male body. Because of these views on the female body, women were actively warned by their physicians not to engage in exercise, because their bodies were too weak to handle it. Men, on the other hand, have been actively exercising and engaging in sports for about as long as men have existed. Women have had a lot of ground to cover to make up for lost time, but they are accomplishing this admirably. Women's best marathon times are about 10 minutes behind men's. However, records for women have only been kept since 1964. The best times for men have improved by a yearly increment of 66 seconds, whereas the best times for women have improved by a yearly increment of 2 minutes and 47 seconds. It would seem as though women are racing to catch up with the men.